met free Chapter 451 This bastard, how dare he slander us like this!
Chapter 451 This bastard, how dare he slander us like this!
After visiting Daming Lake and Taizi Canal, Emperor Zhu took Zhu Laosi and Zhu Laowu to Liumiao Village.
The size of Liumiao Village is about the same as when Emperor Zhu last visited.
However, when Emperor Zhu last visited, the villagers of Liu Miao Village mainly lived in thatched huts, and the roads in the village were all dirt roads.
This time, however, what Emperor Zhu saw were rows of small courtyards with blue brick and tile roofs, and cement-paved paths.
The occasional sounds of chickens and ducks clucking and dogs barking add to the liveliness of the village.
Emperor Zhu smiled and, while leading Zhu Laosi and Zhu Laowu into the village, said, "It's only been three years since we last came to Ningyang County."
"In just three years, the entire Ningyang County has changed completely."
"Take this village in front of you, for example. Have you ever seen it in Jiangnan?"
Zhu Laosi and Zhu Laowu shook their heads directly.
Courtyards that are even better than the brick and tile houses in Liumiao Village are not uncommon in Jiangnan.
But are those courtyards with multiple sections, which can even be called small gardens, suitable for ordinary people to live in?
But these brick and tile houses in Ningyang County are where ordinary people live!
Zhu Laosi couldn't help but sigh and said, "Seeing these things on paper is still not as shocking as seeing them with your own eyes."
Zhu Laowu chimed in, "Fourth Brother is right. If we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, who would believe that ordinary people could live in such nice courtyards?"
Emperor Zhu nodded and said, "It's not difficult to provide a courtyard like this for the people of a village. The difficulty lies in providing a courtyard like this for the people of the entire county."
"What's even more difficult is enabling a prefecture, or even all the people of the entire Ming Dynasty, to live in such a courtyard."
As he was speaking, Emperor Zhu suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"The sky and the earth are dark and yellow, and the universe is primitive."
"The sun and moon wax and wane, and the stars and constellations are arrayed in the sky."
"..."
Hearing the sound of reading aloud nearby, Emperor Zhu sighed again and said, "Can you hear the sound of reading aloud?"
"Back then, your brother-in-law submitted a memorial to the emperor proposing to build numerous community schools in Ningyang County."
"Now it seems that he actually managed to get it done."
"As more and more community schools are established in the future, the number of scholars in our Great Ming Dynasty will naturally increase as well."
"Your brother-in-law has done a great thing."
At this point, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but complain again: "That scoundrel has no idea how much money he spends."
"Can any county organize community schools like this?"
"Let's go to Dengzhou later and see if it's also full of community schools..."
……
Just as Emperor Zhu was pondering how to replicate the model of building numerous schools in Ningyang County, Empress Ma, accompanied by Yu'er, was strolling through the Confucian Temple.
"Mother, this is the pond at the Confucian Temple."
"Legend has it that when my adoptive father was hiding in the dragon's lair, he once came to the Confucian Temple in Ningyang County. When he went to sleep at night, he found the frogs in the pond too noisy, so he told them to go to the other side to croak."
"As a result, only the frogs on the east side of the pond in the Confucius Temple in Ningyang County can croak, while the frogs on the west side can only puff out their bellies but cannot croak."
"Oh, by the way, there's also a Woniu Mountain in Ningyang County. According to local legend, my adoptive father and the Duke of Wei stole a landlord's cow, and then buried the cow's head in front of the mountain and its tail in the back."
"It's similar to the legends of Woniu Mountain in Jiangnan."
Yu'er chattered away nonstop, and Empress Ma couldn't help but laugh.
Zhu Chongba, you really are something else! From Jiangnan to Jiangbei, I wonder how many counties you've begged for food in, and how many landlords' houses you've stolen cattle from.
Yu'er, supporting Empress Ma's arm, walked forward while saying, "There are now twenty-four students in the county school, which is two fewer than last year."
"My husband said that in another ten or eight years, when the children born in the second year of Hongwu have grown up and finished their studies at the community school, the number of students in the county school will increase."
"There may be hundreds of students born every year."
"My husband also said that when there are more students in the future, scholars will become less valuable, and the court can select people to use, so there will be no shortage of manpower like before."
Empress Ma had a headache.
Having more manpower is certainly a good thing.
But having hundreds more infuriating students every year isn't necessarily a good thing, is it?
After all, there's a saying among the people that if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too.
The problems with the county school in Ningyang County are fundamental.
That ability to speak in such a strange and unsettling way, that ability to build a road ten feet long at the drop of a hat, tsk tsk.
This will be a real headache for Biao'er in the future.
Just as Empress Ma was secretly complaining to herself, a group of students poured out of the Minglun Hall.
Upon seeing Empress Ma and Yu'er, the students stopped their playful antics and bowed slightly to Yu'er, saying, "We students greet our little master's wife."
Yu'er coughed and said, "Alright, go and have fun."
Empress Ma couldn't help but laugh, and then pointed to Yu'er's forehead.
It's really funny that a little girl who's not even twenty years old insists on acting like an adult.
Yu'er chuckled twice, and after showing Empress Ma around the county school, she suggested directly, "Mother, the food at home is almost ready. Shall we go back and have a taste?"
Empress Ma smiled and nodded, "Alright, let's go back and try it."
When Empress Ma and Yu'er returned to the backyard of the county government office, Emperor Zhu had already returned with Zhu Lao Si and Zhu Lao Wu.
Yu'er didn't delay any longer and immediately ordered the dishes to be served.
"This is beggar's chicken. Some people have made up a story that my godfather stole the chicken when he was begging for food. Since he had nowhere to cook it, he could only wrap it in mud and throw it into the fire to roast."
Jin'er introduced them to Empress Ma with a smile.
"This is grilled fish. Although it's called grilled, it actually needs to be deep-fried first, and then various side dishes are placed on the bottom. The method is not too complicated, but it's not exactly simple either."
"This is Hongwu cabbage, a cold dish made with sesame paste and honey. My husband made up a story that my godfather loved this dish the most, hoping that all the officials in the world could be as clean and honest as cabbage when they were in office."
"..."
Yu'er, with her little mouth, introduced various delicacies to Empress Ma and Emperor Zhu. More than half of the dozen or so dishes were related to Emperor Zhu.
It was either something Emperor Zhu stole, something Emperor Zhu liked to eat, or something Emperor Zhu couldn't forget.
In Yu'er's words, things like the Hongwu cabbage, which are harmless and even have a slightly auspicious meaning, were just made up by her husband.
For example, the recipe for beggar's chicken was made up by someone else, and my husband told me about it from somewhere else.
Empress Ma didn't care about these fabricated stories.
After all, the two issues of the "Da Ming Di Bao" newspaper, which had only been published for a short time, had included quite a bit of it.
It was even written and arranged by his own son.
In comparison, her son-in-law was somewhat more restrained.
However, Emperor Zhu's expression was somewhat unpleasant.
That bastard dares to talk such nonsense about his father-in-law!